Witness gave obvious nod to juror, court hears

The jury tampering trial is taking place at the Old Bailey

A jury tampering trial has been told how during a hearing over drugs charges, a witness gave a "very obvious" nod to a juror.

At Warwick Crown Court in 2018, Leslie Allen was accused of having cocaine and cannabis valued at £150,000.

The separate proceedings probing the propriety of that case have heard about "odd behaviour".

It is alleged drugs trial juror Damien Drackley had been promised £5,000 to ensure Allen was found not guilty.

Mr Drackley, 37, from Nuneaton, and three others deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Giving evidence at the old Bailey on Monday, a fellow juror in the drugs trial four years ago, Dominyk Maggs, said a 2018 defence witness, Laurence Hayden, nicknamed Del Boy, was called after the prosecution presented its case.

Mr Maggs said: "He came in and, as I had done with other witnesses, I watched him come into the court in front of the defendant's box.

"He looked directly at juror number one [Mr Drackley] and made direct eye contact with him and he did a very obvious nod at him as if he knew him. He gave a very visible nod."

Asked whether Mr Drackley responded, Mr Maggs said he did not know because he could not see his face, but that "he did have a reaction later".

'Very odd'

Mr Maggs said Mr Drackley had asked him whether he saw "that guy" nod in his direction.

"Me and another juror said we did," Mr Maggs told the hearing. "[Mr Drackley] said it was very odd. We said it was odd behaviour. At that point we were ushered into a lift and the conversation stopped."

Mr Drackley had also sought and failed to be jury foreperson in the case, Mr Maggs said.

"He said he quite fancied that role for himself. Initially he got [no votes], then he said something along the lines of 'oh great, nobody likes me then, thanks', at which one of the other jury members raised their hand and voted for him.

"[But] another juror was voted by the rest of us [and] the majority won."

'Aggressive'

Mr Drackley subsequently became "aggressive" in arguing that the accused should be acquitted, Mr Maggs said.

"He basically said that it was all made up, it was a complete load of rubbish; the prosecution, none of it, made sense, none of the facts made sense, so he was not guilty," he told the court.

Mr Maggs continued that on the second day of deliberations four years ago, juror one maintained the verdict should be "not guilty, not guilty" and "nothing is going to change my mind".

"He pulled his hood up and slumped in his chair and said he was not participate any more. We were all quite shocked."

When Mr Drackley revealed he had knowledge of a gym connected to the case, Mr Maggs said, other jurors decided to write a note to the judge.

Afterwards, juror one changed and became friendly and chatty with the rest of the panel, Mr Maggs explained.

Jurors at the Old Bailey have been told Allen was given a 13-year jail sentence in the drugs case.

Along with Mr Drackley, Allen, 66, from Coventry; Mr Hayden, 53, from Coventry; and a fourth man, Mark Walker, 57, from Coventry, have denied conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The Old Bailey trial continues.